Staff Report

Ryan James Prater

WARSAW — A Warsaw man was arrested for allegedly failing to return to the Kosciusko County Work Release center.

Ryan James Prater, 37, 653 Heritage Lane, Warsaw, is charged with failure to return to lawful detention, a level 6 felony.

On April 22, 2024, Prater was sentenced in Kosciusko Circuit Court for dealing a narcotic drug. He received a four-year executed sentence in the Kosciusko County Jail, and was authorized to serve the time through work release in either Kosciusko or Allen Counties.

According to court documents, Prater was accepted to the Kosciusko County Work Release program on Nov. 22, 2024, with a calculated release date of June 23, 2026.

On May 25, 2025, Prater received an exit pass from work release and was asked to return at 5 p.m. However, Prater did not return to the facility and his work release officer was unable to contact him via phone.

About an hour prior to his scheduled return time, Prater texted a person and said he took a woman to South Bend. He said he “got scared to go back” and that he “screwed up bad.”

Prater was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on May 27, 2025. He has a pretrial conference at 9 a.m. Monday, June 30, in Kosciusko Superior Court Three.